Quartet at Artscape

QUARTET | 16 - 26 NOVEMBER | THE ARTSCAPE ARENA

Renowned South African theatremaker Marthinus Basson directs his take on Heiner Müller’s tragic masterpiece in a production that features Greta Pietersen (Fleur du Cap nominee and Fiësta award winner) and Ludwig Binge (Fleur du Cap and Fiësta award nominee, and best supporting actor award at the Silweskermfees).

Quartet is based on Choderlos de Laclos' epistolary novel “Dangerous Liaisons”, a notorious work that was banned in 1782. The two protagonists, Merteuil and Valmont, are both decadent libertines, seeking oblivion in sexual excess; but that fleeting corporeal bliss has, like all drugs, lost its potency with repetition. All that is left to titillate their jaded appetites is the destruction of innocence. The two conspire to seduce Merteuil's virginal niece, Volange, and the virtuous wife, Madame de Tourvel, breaking and abusing them for their own amusement. These sadistic seductions are played out in a grotesque endgame with devastating results. Two extraordinary actors superbly embody Heiner Müller`s astounding insight to the complexities, joys and politics of love.